Working Maps: 17th-19th Century French Manuscript Maps

Looking at working maps – manuscripts, field sketches, and provisional maps – reveals a diversity of symbolization and design which are lost in the monoculture of finished, standardized maps.

HistCarto brings together more than 4000 17th-19th century French manuscript maps. All are working maps, and most are hand drawn. Most contain signs of assessment:

These “signs of assessment” include textual commentaries or the addition of symbols, which provide some indication of the ways the maps were made or the uses to which they were put in an administrative or military capacity.

The site is in French. Once at the site, click on the Acces a la base link on the right. Then select Recherche (on the left) and Simple. I tried to link each of the maps below to its page at the HistCarto site, but you must be logged into the site for the links to work. Not optimal! So I removed the links. To find the maps, just search the site using the map’s title (below each map).

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Detail, farm fields near Neuhof forest (1787):

Plan de la forêt du Neuhof

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Detail, farm fields near Poppenreuth (1795):

Mappa Geographica Parochiae Poppenreutensis

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Detail, farm fields near Strasbourg (no date):

Carte des environs de Strasbourg

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Detail, farm fields near Herlisheim (1760):

Projet d’une nouvelle route entre Gambsheim et Drusenheim

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Details, trees, Château de Karlsruhe (no date):

Plan du château de Karlsruhe

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Detail, forests near Molsheim (no date):

Plan de Molsheim

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Detail, forests near Mont Sainte Odile (1810):

Les environs du Mont Sainte-Odile

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Detail, forests near Thann (1815):

Lever à Vue de la Ville de Thann et des Montagnes qui l’environnent

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Drachenkopf Forest, detail and full map (no date):

Forêt de Drachenkopf

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Detail, map of Strasburg (1765):

Plan de Strasbourg en 1765

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Hunting grounds in the vicinity of Strasbourg, reserved for the king and officers (1739):

Terrains de chasse aux environs de Strasbourg

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Revision on Geologic Map, Barr Region (no date):

Région de Barr: Carte Géologique

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Detail, hand-drawn map of Euphrates (no date):

The river Euphrates with the Cilician Taurus and Northern Syria

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Detail, terrain near Munster (no date):

Carte des Vosges depuis Belfort jusqu’à Landau

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Detail, terrain on map of mining concessions near Thann and Dauendorf (1705):

Concessions minières dans les environs de Thann et de Dauendorf

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Map showing two roads linking Wissembourg and Fischbach and a new road (in yellow) (no date):

[…] Making Maps posts about HistCarto, a site with 4000 searchable and viewable historic maps of France, dating from the 17th to 19th centuries. The site is in French, so you may want to have Google Translator handy if you don’t speak the language. But for a quick view of some of the maps: […]

Fascinating posts–I’ve really enjoyed the resources offered here. After studying your samples, I have a research question: I am working on a project which centers on the French city of Strasbourg, and would really love to consult several of the maps you’ve referenced here. Can you direct me to the source of your 1765 map of Strasbourg? If one of the other maps also shows the city in a later era, I would be very grateful to know its direction as well.